


The Second Winter Soldier

by Lmere



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Brainwashing, Gen, HYDRA are assholes, Hydra (Marvel), Mind Control, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-05-06 07:41:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5408567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lmere/pseuds/Lmere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Winter Soldier was one of Hydra's greatest weapons. Of course they tried to make another. And if the first attempt failed, they would have tried again, and again, and again. Until it worked. Or so they thought.</p><p>(CONSIDER THIS ABANDONED)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Dark Room

In a dark place, there was a dark room. No window, no lights, not even a single candle.  
In the dark room, there was a dark man. No smile, no laughter, not even a hint of a spark in his eyes.  
He was waiting, watching his charge by the barest trickle of illumination that crept through the gap between door and frame. His sharp eyes, sharp enough to cut, lingered over the wound on her cheek. So much potential. But it was worrying, what she had done. Disobedience must be punished.  
He could feel the gun at his back, warmed by the contact with his skin, but he was hesitating. No. Not yet. She could have another chance. He'd been working too hard for too long to throw it all away. She would be punished. She would learn. He would teach her.  
Decision made, he relaxed. It was not a change you could see. None of his muscles moved, nothing in his posture indicated his conclusion. It was something that could only be tasted in the air around him.  
And in a dark room, in a dark place, he waited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very short intro, will take a little while to catch up with summary, but we'll get there. Hope you enjoyed.


	2. A dark place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 26/01
> 
> My thanks to the two guests who've left kudos, and to Keka Doll and Shiny Blue for their comments!

In a dark place, in a dark room, a pair of eyes opened. They were bright and dark, expressive and shielded. They gave away nothing more than what was intended, and weren't surprised by the darkness that greeted their opening. The woman to whom the eyes belonged was used to living in a world of ink. She could find her way through an unfamiliar building in seconds, and track a single man through a crowd with her eyes closed. She lived in a world where black was everywhere, and a hint of grey was unfamiliar. So when her eyes opened to nothing but the barest hint of illumination, she was not worried. She did not know how to worry.  
There was a man in the dark room with her. She knew that without seeing him. Her ears heard his breathing. Her nose smelled his scent. Her heart felt his presence and tightened in something like fear. But she didn't know what fear was. But she knew pain, could feel it, sharp in her cheek and her shoulder. They'd never taken that away, would never even try to. Her pain was useful to them. Order only comes with pain.  
In one fluid movement, the girl sat up, swinging her legs off the narrow cot she'd been lying on as her eyes snapped to those of the man watching her. For a second, neither of the moved as they assessed the other. The man's face was calm and blank, though the tiniest crease marred the skin between his eyes. The girl's face was as smooth as a fresh sheet of paper, but her eyes were wary. They darted down, tracking the man's foot as it edged across the floor and hooked around the door, dragging it open. The light fell across her face, highlighting her pace skin, and the red blood across her right cheek. Her eyes didn't flinch away from the light, but returned to the man's face, studying the features that were almost familiar. Gaze narrowing, her brown eyes, two shades lighter than her hair, swept over his hard face, with its square jaw and short, dark hair.  
"What's my name?" Even his voice was familiar to her, but the answer to his question escaped her. A name? One single word to sum up all of him? She knew that there was one feeling that was his, and his alone. A shiver up her spine, a flicker of anticipation. But a name? Blinking, she tried to think past the ache in her shoulder, and the sharper pain in her cheek.  
"What's my name?" He repeated, and his voice was harder this time, impatience colouring his tone. The tone reminded her of something, some half-forgotten memory of a time long gone, and people long lost. But something clicked, and her breathing evened out.  
"Jonathon." She said, and her voice was calmness made sound. The skin around his eyes crinkled in something akin to approval.  
"What's your name?" After the first answer, this one came more quickly, the familiarity growing to routine.  
"I have no name." Her thoughts were slipping away from her.  
"What are you?"  
"A tool." And it was the truth. The words came mechanically, spoke by something hard, cold and empty. There was no-one else in that room. Just a dark man, and a tool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, another short chapter, but hey, there's progress. Next one (I hope) will be the "real" beginning, and we can run from there ;) :D


	3. A glimpse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 12/2

I came awake, properly awake, hours later. It was a struggle to keep walking straight, but somehow I kept putting one foot in front of the other and didn't stumble. There was still pain, licking along my shoulder with every step and a constant ache in my cheek. Ignoring them both, I kept my head down, following the path trodden by feet in front of me. I knew this routine, I could do it. Just keep following. Risking a glance up, I took less than a second to take in my surroundings, then dropped my eyes again. Heading towards the mess hall. It worried me to keep my thoughts quiet. As if I was going to slip away again. But it was necessary. I was used to necessary. Experienced.  
My feet carried me carefully to the back of a short line, and I waited, eyes unfocused as we moved slowly forwards. But as my hand closed around a tray, I suddenly wondered how they got the food. It would be an unbelievably complicated process. Some fake company with a legitimate reason to be purchasing it, and then only the most trusted would transport it here. Here. Wherever here was. I'd paused. Turning away, I moved quickly, trying to hide the hesitation. Automatically I went to a seat on the end of a bench, easy to slip out of, good view of the door. The younger ones were so easily recognisable, sitting anywhere, no thought for their surroundings. That wouldn't last. So I sat in complete awareness. Even as I began to eat, I was careful to muffle the sound of the cutlery. Glancing up, I watched the pictures cycle through on the wall, the high value targets that we could all recognise. Rogers, Romanoff, Stark. I raised another piece of potato to my lips, chewing slowly. Banner, with the word 'dangerous' emblazoned over his picture. Then the new one, whose information I'd memorised only a week ago. Barnes. With the red star on his shoulder that should have proclaimed him an ally. Traitor. I hadn't been awake then, but I still remembered it. The sour looks on every face. The raised voices, and angry supplications.  
My view was suddenly blocked and I dropped my eyes as someone slid into the seat opposite me. I risked a glance up. A girl, plain-faced, with small eyes and light brown hair. I was staring, but I couldn't help myself. I was waiting, hoping for... something. Then she raised her eyes. We looked at each other for just long enough. Just enough to push it past the boundary without raising suspicion. Then we both looked back down, returning our gaze to our food.  
"What happened?" She had the whisper down to perfection, her lips never moving, the sound travelling to my ears and no further. The question made me search for the answer, but I found nothing but darkness and pain.  
"I don't know." My voice was just as low as hers. Our eyes met again, and I knew that she understood, that her memory had just as many gaps. The screen over her head changed again and I raised my gaze to it, watching the pictures cycle round again. They were the only exceptions - the only reason we were allowed to break from our mission was if we got a chance to take them out. Complete the mission. The phrase drifted through me so softly I barely noticed, not realising my mind was slipping away from me. A huge crash made me leap to my feet. The whole hall had done the same, and we remained silent, hands on weapons as we stared towards the door, waiting. Angry shouts filled the air, followed by another huge crash and a yell of pain.  
"Stop him!" A voice yelled. Something in me twitched, wanting to obey the order, but without enough information to do so. Someone flashed past the doorway, moving so fast I only caught a glimpse of them before they were gone. But the lights behind me glinted off something shiny coating his arm as he flashed past. Less than a second later, ten more men rushed past. I heard a pop, a bang, and a howl of combined fury and grief. Then all went silent. We waited for a few more moments, then, much slower this time, and with a great deal more effort, the whole group went back past the door, carrying something heavy in their midst. And again I saw the flash of light on metal. The last one past paused at the doorway, glancing in at us.  
"Carry on." He said. We all turned and sat at once, picking up knives and forks, eating with identical, mechanical manners. And in my caution to follow with everyone else, I lost myself again.


	4. Death's run

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 04/07

The gunshot was painfully loud, blasting through my ears, shattering my eyes, cracking my heart. My ears were ringing too much for me to hear the sound of her body hitting the floor. I could still remember her scream though, as I stared down at her small blank eyes, her simple face marred by the hole in the middle of her cheek where the bullet had gone through. The girl who'd spoken to me while we'd been eating. She'd had a name. She'd told me. Tracy. I didn't know what it was to have a name. Even though her eyes were empty now, they hadn't been. They spoke one word to me. _Run_. Was this is? Was this all we were to them? Disposable assets, to be discarded so easily when a fault was discovered? What if it had been me that had made the slip, revealed that there was a _me_ , where there shouldn't have been anything at all? _Run_. Breathe in, breathe out. Think. _Don't think. Run. Just run._ Tracy's blank staring eyes were imprinted before me, so I could see nothing else. They were superimposed over the world. A hand closed over my arm. _RUN!_ The voice was screaming, and I finally listened to it. The hand dragged me away, but my head snapped up, and I'd made my decision. I whipped my arm round, breaking the hold upon it, and I lunged forwards. In one leap, I cleared Tracy's sprawled body. I hated to leave her behind in that place, but there was no other choice. I burst through a door and slammed it closed behind me. It locked automatically, and I kept running, the unfamiliar corridors flashing past me. I took corners on instinct, letting my feet carry me where they wanted, until I reached a fork where they stumbled, and halted. sound from the right had me stepping back into the shadow, but as the footsteps faded quickly, I jogged after them, to the end of the passage. Breathing hard, I looked left, then right, but both were empty now.

"What are you doing?"

I spun round, hands raised and ready. There was no-one; the corridor was empty. Then he moved, and I saw him. Both his metal hands were curled round the bars in the door of his cell, and he was watching me with something like hope on his face. Without realising, I took a step towards him.

"Running," I panted, my mouth answering him without me thinking about it.

"I can see that." His voice was perfectly calm. "Why?" I took another step forwards.

"What's your name?" I asked him, and his face shut down at once. He took a step back, releasing the bars.

"I don't have a name," he said tonelessly.

"Do you want one?"

He was taken aback for a second, but couldn't stop his eyes widening with hope. His jaw trembled before it clenched.

"Yes," he whispered, knowing exactly what the question had really been. "God, yes." I put my hand upon the lock for his door, and my fingers found the button. The door opened out and I stepped back as he joined me on unsteady feet. Then the first gunshot rang out. Before I'd even registered it, two metal arms had seized me, and whirled us both back behind the protection of the door.

"Go right," He cried in my ear. "Go!" He threw me away from him, and I leapt round the corner, my feet pounding on the floor with an echo right behind them. Together we ran.

Twice more shots rang out behind us, but luck was with us, shielding our bodies and lending wings to our feet. Three times he told me which was to go, then I hit a door hard, and rebounded off it. He didn't waste any time, but put a metal fist straight through the keypad. Sparks fell and the door opened. We ran into sunlight.

It was freedom. Running across open ground, with no walls, no boundaries, nothing to hold me back. Beside me, he pulled ahead, but I lengthened my stride, stretching my long legs, and I stayed with him, at least until the ground fell away in front of us. He threw out an arm, and we both skidded to a stop, looking down. A long, long way below us, water churned, frothing angrily as it looked back up at us from its dark depths.  He took a step back and I met his gaze, then turned to look behind us. There was no sign of the place we'd escaped, just a hole in the side of a rocky cliff. And the people creeping closer, guns trained on us. We stood together, in silence, waiting. Another man stepped out from the wall of bodies that had halted several metres away. His eyes captured mine.

"What's my name?" he asked, moving slowly closer. My body relaxed at once.

"Jonathon," I replied, my voice as calm as my face. The guns trained on me lowered a little, the men holding back to let Jonathon do his job.

"What's your name?"

"I don't have a name." He was closer now. I should go to him.

"What are you?" My chin jerked up, and his eyes were no longer holding mine. It was _my_ gaze that pinned _him_ in place.

"I don't know. But I'm going to find out." I spun, and launched myself off the cliff.

Air rushed past my face, whipping the breath out of my lungs with it. I flailed as I fell, and the water rushed up to meet me, but my instincts kicked in just in time, and my legs snapped together as my arms crossed over my chest and I took a breath before hitting the surface.

It was cold. So cold. So powerful. The swirling water carried me along, and I let it take me, floating under the surface until my lungs screamed. Only then did I kick for the light and take a deep gasping breath. The water crashed and foamed around me, swinging me about. Turning, I looked up, and saw tiny figures far above, and smiled. But then I turned my attention to the water around me, searching for a face, a glimpse, anything. But there was nothing. And I didn't have a name to call out. Taking a breath, I ducked back under the water, staring around through the murky gloom as the river carried me ever onwards. Nothing. Nothing. Noth... wait. A faint glimmer caught my eye, like light reflecting off of metal... I struck out, moving across the current rather than trying to fight it directly. And I saw him. He was thrashing wilding below the surface, seemingly unable to right himself. I popped back up for another breath, then dived down. His arms were moving too much for me to grab one, so I went deeper and wound an arm around his chest before kicking hard for the surface. One of his arms flew back towards me and one of the metal plates caught my cheek, slashing across it. My cry of pain was totally silent under the water as I struggled not to open my mouth. Then we broke the surface. His failing stopped as he took great gasps of air, but I didn't let go of him, and I had no spare breath to reassure him, so I stayed silent, kicking with my legs to carry us faster downstream. After a moment, I felt his legs join mine, and we powered our way along in silence through the cold water.

The river was fast, and carried us out of sight of that cursed cliff, but we were both shivering with cold, and I knew we had to get out while we still could. I glanced ahead of us, setting my gaze on a wide curve in the water. As we moved closer, I twisted my body, and forced my tired legs to kick again, carrying us out of the weakened current and towards the shore. My feet found the bottom and I stood upright, letting go of the chest that I'd been clutching. He jerked suddenly, then found the bottom and we slogged out of the water. As we gained the rocky shore, his knees gave out, and he sank down to the ground shivering. I wanted nothing more than to do the same, but I knew we couldn't.

"No," I gasped, shaking from the cold. "We can't stop." He raised his head, eyes glazed, and stared right through me. I hardened my voice. "Get up." By some miracle, he did so, lurching to his feet, shivering. Turning, I began to walk, and after a moment, heard his feet stumbling over the rough ground behind me. And we staggered on.

The ground was rough and rocky underfoot, and I was unendingly grateful that we both had shoes on, though I hated feeling my feet squelch with each step. I kept my ears open to make sure he was still behind me, but after a while, he moved up to walk beside me. Heads hanging, we walked, shivering in the chill breeze. The movement warmed us to a certain extent, and I hugged my arms around my body to ease the chill. The sun was sinking when I raised my head and was shocked to see lights ahead. I froze, fear flooding my system. They'd found us. Beside me, he noticed the pause, and raised his head too, but even as he did so I looked again at what I was seeing. It wasn't search lights, but a sprawling tangle of pin pricks. A city. Or a town at least. Warmth, food, shelter. But even as the desperate hopes ran through my head, I knew that it was too far away for us to reach. We had to stop. I looked sideways and met his gaze, seeing for the first time that he had blue eyes. Without speaking, we moved on, but we both kept our eyes up now, looking for anything that could hide us. When a startlingly cold hand touched my arm, I jumped, then looked over to where he was pointing. It wasn't much, but the groups of shrubs was denser than the others, so I nodded and followed him towards it.

The ground had become smoother as we'd walked, and I watched dust rise in small clouds under his feet. Dropping to his knees, he crawled into the clump of bushes, and I followed him, breaking braches to create a small hollow. It was very dark under the leaves, but I could see his metal arms gleaming as he curled up on his side. I lay down beside him, shuffling across until my back pressed up against his.

"You're cold," I said. He made a vague noise, but didn't reply. There were many other things I could have said, but I held my tongue, and we lay in silence as the night grew darker around us. Through the lower branches, I could just see the flickering lights in the distance. The sound of breathing was loud in the dark, but the feel of the back moving gently against mine was a reassurance.

"We did it," I whispered to myself. "We're out. I can have a name." The silence pressed around me, but the air was so clean, so fresh that it couldn't scare me.

"I don't know how to have a name." I twitched as he spoke. I hadn't realised he was awake, or listening. "Do we just... choose one?"

"I suppose so," I replied quietly. He was silent for so long that I stopped waiting, and slipped into sleep with his body pressed against mine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this has been a long time coming.... Thanks to IWriteSinsNotEssaysOk and ShinyBlue for their comments that gave me the kick to pull this out of the very, very back of the drawers...  
> Got more of this that just needs editing, so hopefully with a few more hard kicks, it won't get abandoned again. :D

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always welcome. Subscribe to get e-mails of updates on this work. Tags will be updated along the way. If you'd be interested in beta-ing for me, give me a shout in the comments or send me a message on Tumblr (see below), and I'll be eternally grateful ;)
> 
> By some miracle or mistake, I'm on Tumblr... you can message me there, or just watch and laugh as I stumble my way through life...  
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lmere19


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